Joint research from 1st-party customer data specialists Edit, and digital transformation consultancy Kin + Carta has revealed the impact of the pandemic on customer loyalty. The report, titled 'The Loyalty Paradox' shows that brand loyalty became a thing of the past last year with over a quarter (27.4%) of UK and US consumers showing no 'brand loyalty' at all across any sectors.

2000 respondents split equally between the UK & USA, were asked multiple-choice questions relating to loyalty, personalisation, and customer experience, across a broad range of sectors.

E-commerce scored particularly poorly, with only 6% of consumers claiming loyalty to brands within that vertical. As the lowest scoring online segment, e-commerce brand loyalty was below that of finance (9%) and offline retail - food and drink (21.5%).

Rob McGowan, joint managing director at Edit comments: "These results suggest that while the e-commerce sector boomed during the pandemic, brands would be wise not to confuse habitual purchasing with perceived loyalty."

Outside of e-commerce, loyalty towards financial products increased with age and, unsurprisingly, with those who have an income of £75,000 plus, with over 20% of respondents in this income bracket claiming loyalty to brands within the sector.

In a digital-first customer journey, rewards are most likely to drive the sharing of personal data across demographics. 43% of respondents suggested 'a discount code or incentive' would persuade them to sign up to brand communications.

A quarter (25%) would like 'exclusive products or first opportunity to purchase', Gen Z consumers saw "exclusivity" as particularly appealing, with nearly a third (30%) interested in 'first opportunity to purchase'.

While rewards were seen as an appropriate trade off for sharing personal information, more pragmatic considerations still remain the most important consideration to younger audiences. Operational and customer service communications outweighed rewards as a 'return factor' for younger generations. 34% of Gen Z respondents, and 32% of Millennials said that they would be 'deter[ed] from making another purchase if [they] cannot contact customer services via [their] preferred method'.

McGowan continues: "Brands cannot rely on loyalty anymore. Brand affinity through emotional connection has weakened to be replaced by habitual ties based on lived and related experience with brands and retailers.

"Brands therefore need to ensure that they look at the individual customer, and how they interact with the business to understand their behaviours and encourage habitual purchasing. Consequently, brands should be looking at the customer journey as a whole, as well as spotting opportunities to innovate through data. Do it right, and there is an opportunity to retain more customers, as well as bringing in new ones".

Karl Hampson Chief Technology Officer Data & AI at Kin+Carta concludes "Our research shows that brands must not confuse repeat purchasing with "loyalty". Instead, they should balance repeat transactional activity with how engaged the customer is across all interactions.

"Data will be key to this holistic measure, but equally brands must invest in the capabilities to understand the human behind the data. This means making data more accessible, insights easier to unlock and bringing your customer experience and data teams closer together so a shared understanding and strategy can be achieved."

The full report, developed alongside Censuswide, can be downloaded here:

https://edit.co.uk/customer-journey-research-report/

ENDS

Notes to Editors

For further information, please contact:

Tom Ingoldby

E: tom@velvetpr.biz

T: +44 7825 814 634

Andy Riley

E: andy@velvetpr.biz

T: +44 7503 673 384

About Edit

Edit delivers integrated data solutions, acquisition, and retention campaigns for some of the world's most recognised brands. Obsessed with delivering attributable growth for clients, Edit's mission is "to turn data into profit" via combining technology, strategy, and insight.

Headquartered out of Bath and London, the business's staff, or "Editors" as they are known, is comprised of over 120 data scientists, engineers, technology strategists and planners with revenues in excess of £12m.

www.edit.co.uk

About Kin + Carta

Kin + Carta is a global digital transformation consultancy committed to working alongside our clients to build a world that works better for everyone.

Our 1,700 strategists, engineers and creatives around the world bring the connective power of technology, data and experience to the world's most influential companies, helping them to accelerate their digital roadmap, rapidly innovate, modernise their systems, enable their teams and optimise for continued growth.

As a Certified B Corp, our triple bottom line focus on people, the planet, and profit is at the core of everything we do.

For more information, please visit www.kinandcarta.com.

About Edit

Edit deliver integrated data solutions, acquisition, and retention campaigns for some of the world's most recognised brands.

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(C) 2022 M2 COMMUNICATIONS, source M2 PressWIRE